This category will hold everything DIY related.
In this video I am hacking this vk-172 cheap usb gps module to use UART instead of USB. The module contains the ublox 7 chipset which is quite nice and it makes it much more useful having an UART interface.
PIO10 > pin 33 controls the hardware pin remapping feature
PIO10 low = UART remapped to PIO15 > pin 36 and PIO16 > pin 37
PIO10 high = UART on standard TX on PIO6 > pin 19 and RX on PIO7 > pin 18
In this video I’m showing you how I made my own bench silicone wire test leads with different end connectors.
This is the first video for 2016 and hopefully one of the many this year. I’m giving you an update on what I’ve been up to, that is an auction score where I got myself some nice multimeters (Fluke 87, Fluke 77 and Tektronix TX1) for a good price and the dark load project that I’m working on.
This one is a very short video showing you how to use the drag soldering technique. I am using this method every time I need to solder in line pins, I get good solder joints in half the time it would take me to solder each individual pin. This can add up to a lot of saved time when you’re working on boards with more than 400 solder joints.
Links for products used in this video:
In this episode I am testing the various menus on the Graphical LCD Transistor/Component Tester purchased from banggood. This gadget does more than just measure and identify components, it can also measure frequency, it has built-in frequency generator as well as a 10-bit pwm generator with adjustable duty cycle.
Links to the products shown in this video:
In this episode I am assembling the Graphical LCD Transistor/Component Tester purchased from banggood. Once again I give some hints on through hole soldering and in the end the kit works as expected on first go.
Here are some links where you can purchase the kit shown in the video:
In this video I am showing various techniques I use for desoldering and salvaging electronic components like: inductors, tantalum capacitors, connectors, ceramic capacitors, op-amps, comparators, switches, battery connectors, dc jacks, mosfets, fuses and ferrite beads from old motherboards.
I am also taking a look at some laptop optical drivers and lcd pannels to see if there is anything usefull we can save before taking them to the recycling bin.
Here are links to some tools you can use for desoldering jobs:
Although the operating temperature of this LED might be up to 85 deg C, while looking through various datasheets, I couldn’t find a graph showing a plot of the expected life in hours vs temperature. If I were to guess I would say you need to run these at less than 50 degrees C to get some decent life out of them. There was a mention of a stress test in a datasheet and that meant for that particular led manufacturer running it at 60 degrees C full rated current for 1000 hours with no resulting damage.
If you have any info on these LED’s and what temperature they should be running at to get some decent life out of them, please leave a comment below.
So to finish up on this story I have to say that I learned some things about these LED strips. If I were to design something from scratch I would run some basic thermal calculations based on the figures from datasheets but in this case, with these chinese led strips, there is no datasheet, I can’t even easily compare to existing datasheet because these can’t be compared: the driving current is different, the LED only has one die in my case and so on.
The next thing I will try is to double my L shaped heatsink with another piece the same model and size this way I will be increasing my heatsink surface and hopefully cool the LED’s better, maybe shave another 5 degrees.
I will be posting an update with some measurements for comparison once I get the upgrade done. Links for the power supply, led dimmers as well as the light meter used in this video will be in the description of the video so do check them out.
Today we’re going to be looking at some laptop batteries, we’re going to take them apart and attempt to salvage some lithium cells to use in other projects.
I have these two identical batteries coming from a Fujitsu Siemens laptop and they’re both dead. These batteries usually fail in one of two modes, they either have a failed electronics board and in this case they don’t communicate with the laptop motherboard anymore for correct management or they have one or more lithium cells failed and they don’t reach their nominal voltage anymore.I believe these two are in the second category where one or more cells have failed and they don’t reach their nominal voltage anymore.
